IT Ukraine Association supports immigration quotas for IT specialists

Publication date:02.03.2020

Publication from:IT Ukraine

Members of IT Ukraine Association support the decision of the Cabinet of Ministers to set an immigration quota for 5,000 foreign specialists to be employed by Ukrainian IT companies in 2020. The relevant Resolution was approved on February 26 at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

“IT community of our Association supports this initiative of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, as it will simplify the employment process in Ukraine for qualified foreign specialists to a great extent. We need IT specialists in the field of engineering as the market annual demand is 40,000 jobs, while only 15,000 persons graduate from universities. We are confident that if the initiative is successful, the limits of the simplified procedure can be increased by at least 10 times.”

At the same time, it should be noted that the business is waiting for the publication of a regulation on quota allocation. It is important to understand how exactly specialists will receive quotas, under what procedure and criteria.

Oleksandr Bornyakov, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, commented on the selection methodology in relation to IT specialists wishing to get a quota for immigration to Ukraine:

“Companies will make their own decisions about the specialists they need. The main selection criterion is compliance with the qualification requirements for certain IT industry professions for foreigners. As the quotas amount is limited, those who apply first get it first.”

The quotas should partially satisfy the IT market demand for qualified specialists, and will simplify the procedure for foreign specialists as follows:

it will no longer be necessary to renew visa annually, as the quota will be checked only once every 10 years,

specialists will no longer be “bound” to a specific place as they have been before. it will be possible to choose where to work or even to create own products,

it will be possible to register as a self-employed person,

it will be possible to immigrate to Ukraine with a family,

the employment procedure will be the same as that for citizens of Ukraine;

IT Ukraine Association is the largest pool of IT service and product companies in Ukraine, which collectively account for 50% of all export earnings of IT industry in Ukraine and unite 27% of Ukrainian IT professionals. The Association has been operating in the market for over 15 years. Our mission is to ensure favorable conditions for IT industry development in the country and abroad.